


warmth

by delightwrites



Series: we found something along the way [2]
Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Callum is a good brother, Families of Choice, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Huddling For Warmth, Set during S1, Team as Family, a tiny bit of angst, but mostly just fluff trust me, listen it is the superior trope, rayla is accidentally adopted by two weird human princes, rayla loves her boys, set after s1 ep6: Through the Ice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:14:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26120215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/delightwrites/pseuds/delightwrites
Summary: "“I’m cold, Callum,” Ezran mumbles, voice only a little bit shaky.His brother hums seriously, then breaks into a smile. “Maybe you shouldn’t go swimming in freezing lakes, then.”But he strides over to him, fixing the cloak around his shoulders and even wrapping his own scarf around his neck for good measure."-callum and rayla keep ezran warm
Relationships: Callum & Ezran & Rayla (The Dragon Prince), Callum & Ezran (The Dragon Prince), Callum & Rayla (The Dragon Prince), Ezran & Rayla (The Dragon Prince)
Series: we found something along the way [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1896547
Comments: 4
Kudos: 42





	warmth

**Author's Note:**

> so these two works were supposed to be part of a bigger fic, but since i don't think i'll be finishing them anytime soon, i decided to post them as separate ficlets. hopefully, it will be finished one day, but if not, they stand quite well on their own.
> 
> anyways, hope you enjoy!

"I think I got a case of frosie-tosies," Ezran says and Rayla can hear his voice tremble. It's worrying, but Ez saved the egg and he's also safe himself and _alive_ and Rayla completely forgets about the throbbing pain in her wrist.

Callum is hugging his brother like he's clinging to him for dear life.

It’s a fleeting thought, but Rayla wishes she could wrap the boy in a hug as well, just for a few seconds. However short the time since they’ve known each other, she can’t help but think of both of the princes as her friends.

Nearly loosing a friend is something that’s bound to make you want to give them a big hug, Rayla supposes.

Even as they make camp for the night in a relatively dry and warm cave, and Rayla is busying herself with starting the fire, watching the boys from the corner of her eye, she does not once think about the binding on her wrist.

Callum is fussing over Ez, ordering him to change into dry clothes and wrapping a cloak around him tightly. The younger prince tries to protest, insisting he's not even _that_ cold, but his chattering teeth betray him.

Only once the fire is cracking happily, lighting up the walls of the cave with dancing flames, does he seem better. He wiggles his fingers as he sits close to the fire, trying to take in all the warmth and Rayla can see his cheeks slowly regaining their colour.

The egg doesn't seem to be doing as fine, however. Its light is dim and only slowly pulsing and Rayla worries. She doesn't say it though, because a fight with a human, a hasty escape and an avalanche would already have been enough to worry about today, but then theyalmost lost the egg and then they almost lost _Ezran_ and-

Rayla tries not to think about it.

She has a feeling Callum must be struggling with avoiding the same sorts of thoughts. Since they pulled Ez out from under the ice, he hasn't let his little brother out of his sight, not for a second.

But he also looks exhausted so as Ezran finally falls asleep curled up next to the fire, with Bait settled down essentially on top of him, Rayla tells Callum to get some sleep.

“I’ll take first watch,” she offers.

“I don’t think I’d be able to even just close my eyes to sleep,” he waves of her offer. “But thanks.”

Rayla nods. She understands.

She still keeps watch, tries to take the weight of worry off his shoulders. He notices it - he can be pretty observant sometimes - and seems grateful for her. He doesn't untense, not entirely, but Rayla sees him open up his sketchbook and she thinks that's a good start.

She lets her mind wander too while keeping watch over them, though not too far, steering away from the thoughts that would definitely ensure she wouldn’t get a second of sleep that night. The thoughts about her team and Runaan, the lies she keeps tellings herself, the truth she’s still hiding from the two princes.

She glances at them sometimes, Ezran ocassionally stirring in his sleep and Callum drawing in his sketchbook, quick, hasty lines, a frown on his face.

 _He draws when he’s upset_ , Ezran told Rayla once jokingly. Of course, not only when he’s upset, Rayla knows that already. The prince seems to use all the time they are not spending on the road to add a couple more pages to his already half-full sketchbook every day.

But now, he may really be upset and Rayla thinks she can see a slight tremble in his hand as he grips the piece of chaorcal a little too tightly. She peeks over his shoulder to see what he’s drawing - because she’s curious, sue her.

A pretty- no, a beautiful woman. She wears the fancy robes of noble humans and her dark hair is in a long braid behind her back. On the drawing, she laughs, her almond shaped eyes warm.

“Who is she?” Rayla asks, as quiet and soft as her voice lets her.

Callum looks at her and bites his lip.

“Our mother,” he says in a raspy voice and Rayla nods. “I was six when she died, you know? And Ez only one-”

“Callum?” A small voice comes from by the fire. It’s Ezran, he’s looking up at them sleepily and he rubs his eyes with his clenched fist.

“Yeah, Ez?” The older prince immediately sets his sketchbook aside. Before he closes it, Rayla is able to take one last look at the drawing on the latest page.

“I’m cold, Callum,” Ezran mumbles, voice only a little bit shaky.

His brother hums seriously, then breaks into a smile. “Maybe you shouldn’t go swimming in freezing lakes, then.”

But he strides over to him, fixing the cloak around his shoulders and even wrapping his own scarf around his neck for good measure.

Rayla stands up too, though she doesn’t know why.

“I... eh,” she stammers because at her sudden movement, they both looked up at her and now she really doesn’t know what to say. “I’ll get some more wood for the fire. Need to keep ye warm, little prince.”

Ezran nods and Callum shoots Rayla a grateful look.

As she returns not ten minutes later, she’s surprised to see Callum joined Ezran under the cloak and the two of them are now huddled together by the fire.

“Rayla!” Ez exclaims as he sees her enter the cave.

She raises an eyebrow at them, trying her best to look unimpressed by the, frankly, quite sweet scene in front of her.

“You were right, Rayla,” Callum says. “We do need to keep him warm.”

Rayla nods and crouches by the fire, packing in the branches she brought back with herself.

“It’s warm like this,” Ezran grins, maybe a bit too pleased with himself. “On one side.”

Rayla nods again absent-mindedly.

Then Callum clears his throat loudly and she looks up at the sudden noise.

“What?”

“He’s only warm on one side.”

“And?” Rayla doesn’t understand. Is this gonna be one of those weird, human things again?

“ _And?_ ” Ezran gasps exagerratedly. “What about my other side, Rayla? Do you want me to freeze to death?”

Oh-

“Oh,” she says. “I thought...”

Actually, she didn’t think. The thought that the two brothers would want her to join them didn’t even cross her mind. She was the whole reason Ezran had to jump into a freezing lake and nearly died. She just told them about her oath!

“Rayla...” Ezran notices her hesitation and asks quietly. “Please.”

“You don’t have to if you don’t wan-” Callum hurries to add, almost slurring the words together, but Rayla has already made her decision and she quickly cuts him off with a firm nod.

She moves around the fire and settles down by Ezran’s free side. Bait moves to sit in the boy’s lap and Callum offers Rayla the other end of their cloak with a sheepish grin. She takes it and hopes that even if the princes can see the blush of her face, they write it down as merely the red-orange reflection of the flames.

Ez falls asleep again soon, and then so does Callum. Despite insisting he wouldn’t be able to sleep that night, the older prince slumbers peacefully with his arms wrapped around his brother.

Rayla keeps watch.

Over the their mission, over the two princes. Over her friends.

But not for long.

When she stirs at the first light of morning, she’s surprised to find Ezran’s legs all but spread over her, the boy’s head in Callum’s lap, who’s moved closer to Rayla and is now leaning on her shoulder, his head rolled to the side as he snores lightly. He also moved his arms: one of them is still holding Ez, but the other is wrapped around Rayla.

She contemplates her options, getting up and risking waking the princes or staying for little longer...

Then she makes up her mind.

Ezran was right, it’s warm like this.

**Author's Note:**

> if you liked it, kudos and comments give me life!!
> 
> find me on tumblr @sky-mage


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